Friday's Daily Pulse

What you need to know about Florida today

| 4/19/2013

Alimony law in Florida changes drastically

SB 718, approved by lawmakers by an 85-31 vote, would end permanent alimony, cap alimony awards based on a person's income and the length of the marriage and make it easier for an ex-spouse to terminate or lower alimony payments upon retirement. It also gives parents equal custody of any children in the marriage. More from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and the Tampa Bay Times.

The owners of two senior arcades in Broward County filed a lawsuit Thursday challenging Florida’s new law that prohibits them from operating slots-like games. Lawmakers banned the machines as a result of federal and state investigations into Internet cafes resulted in the arrest of 57 people on racketeering and money laundering charges. More from the Times/Herald and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

Rum plays up -- and ignores -- its Caribbean roots

When you're talking about rum, how much does the Caribbean really matter? For the rum world, it's a more serious question than it sounds, and the answer exposes a schism in the industry, a divide between massive producers who value uniformity in a global market and smaller players and connoisseurs who prefer nuanced production that reflects the time and place a rum is made. [Source: AP]

In late October, Hurricane Sandy washed out a portion of State Road A1A in Fort Lauderdale. And in Miami Beach, seasonal high tides regularly deluge Alton Road. South Florida transportation planners think these examples are just the beginning of the impact that rising sea levels, strong storm surges and flooding are going to have on the region's transportation infrastructure. [Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel]

Driverless cars: Look, no hands

The technology seems likely to be ready before all the questions of regulation and liability have been sorted out. Three American states, Nevada, California and Florida, have passed laws governing the testing of driverless cars on public roads, which had previously been a legal grey area. But that is just the start. Decades of road-safety legislation will have to be overturned before cars can roam the streets without a qualified and sober driver at the controls, and accidents involving driverless cars are bound to attract some lawsuits. [Source: The Economist]

› Work starts on Orlando area's largest new office building in years[Orlando Sentinel] Verizon Communications completed its purchase of 17 acres between Interstate 4 and International Parkway in Lake Mary at the end of March, and Skanska USA Building is constructing the 220,000-square-foot, build-to-suit project, which is expected to be completed in a year.

› Longer patient stays drive up costs, hurt profits at Jackson [Miami Herald] Patients at Miami-Dade’s safety net public hospitals are staying longer on average than they were a year ago, driving up labor costs and dragging down profits, according to Jackson Health System administrators addressing Thursday’s meeting of the Public Health Trust that oversees the system.

› Creativity starts from within[Tampa Bay Times] Beck Group's originality is on display in projects like the Dalí Museum, the beer-can-shaped Rivergate Tower and the University of South Florida's high-tech Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation.